Truth & Lies
by Logan Roberts
Summary: What would happen if Dick ever found out what really happened to Barbara after she was shot.
1. Truth & Lies 1

Title: Truth & Lies 

Author: Logan Roberts 

Disclaimer: The characters of Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, Roy   
Harper, Bruce Wayne, The Joker, and Harley Quinn belong to DC. 

Rating: PG-13 

Story Synopsis: I understand that there are currently two schools of thought   
regarding what the Joker did after he shot Barbara. In this story it is   
assumed that in addition to the pictures she was raped. This is about what   
happens after Dick learns the whole truth 

Feedback: This is my first Fic so be gentle. Public feedback is welcome.   
Please send critical feedback to my e-mail. 

Thanks: To Charlene for letting me bounce some ideas off of her and editing and   
keeping me correct with all facts. 

Truth & Lies: Part 1 

Roy woke up with a start. He sat up and his head spun. "Way too much   
to drink last night," he said aloud. He looked over at the chair in his room   
and jumped again. There sat Dick, he was in his costume without his mask. Roy   
thought it looked like he had been crying. 

"What time is it?" Roy slurred. 

"Eight, in the morning." 

"Oh man," Roy said as he pulled himself out of bed and stumbled over to   
where Dick sat and took the other chair in the room. "What's up?" 

"I can't believe it. I cant believe those so close to me kept this   
from me," Dick said as he dropped his head into his hands. 

"What, what happened?" 

"It is all so confusing. Maybe I should start from the beginning." 

"Bruce was out of town for the week on business in Metropolis. Since   
it was exam week for Tim I was asked to come to Gotham and give Cassandra a   
hand. I didn't mind. Bludhaven had been unusually quiet and I was up for some   
vacation. I pulled up to the manor around 5:30 on Monday night. Alfred   
greeted me at the door with his usual welcoming expression. He told me dinner   
would be served in ten minutes, I wasn't hungry but I knew it would be no use   
to argue. I went straight to my room and dropped off my bags. For some reason   
I had brought my police equipment bag, I guess it was becoming habit. When I   
made it to the dining room I was surprised to find Barbara and Cassandra   
waiting for me. It had been too long since I had seen her face to face. We   
spoke every day dealing with business but I still missed her. She was so   
beautiful. I almost sprinted over to her and wrapped my arms around her. She   
was wearing a perfume that was driving me wild. 

Throughout dinner we caught up with each other, telling tales of life,   
not adventure. Cassandra still amazes me. Ever since I first met her during   
No Man's Land, knowing she had come from such a hard life and yet she still had   
so much innocence. It was almost like we lived normal lives. But I knew it   
wouldn't last forever. Alfred took Barbara home around ten and Cassandra went   
into the cave to prep for the night. Bruce had left me with an errand list,   
rumors of what was going on throughout Gotham. 

We took the bikes and split up. It was so good to be back in Gotham.   
Bludhaven might be my city but Gotham is home. The old patrol routes came back   
just like riding a bicycle. Around one I got the call from Oracle, the Joker   
had escaped. I got to Arkham as quickly as I could but he was long gone. I   
did two more rounds and called it a night knowing that he wasn't going to poke   
his head out anytime soon. Not till his twisted mind formed what he considered   
a plan. 

When I got back to the cave I still wasn't tired. I changed into my   
workout shorts and began. I decided to skip stretching since I was already   
pretty loose I started with some aikido routines and then moved to the   
gymnastic equipment. It was nice to have access to this, no gym in Bludhaven   
had all of the equipment I was used to. An hour later I was sweaty and bored.   
I took a quick shower and sat down at the computer. 

I started pulling up everything I could on the Joker. I knew this file   
by heart but I knew it wouldn't hurt to scan it again, or would it. I couldn't   
help it, I ended up at the file concerning Barbara. Had it been so long ago.   
What he had taken from her was immeasurable. I almost missed it, a file that I   
had never seen. There was nothing special about it, the name was just a series   
of numbers but it had been created the night the Joker was arrested after her   
shooting. I clicked on it. It was secured, and not even my password would   
open it. 

Ok, my curiosity was piqued. Tim and Barbara had been showing me some   
hacking techniques, so I decided to see how well I had learned them. It was   
tough, tighter than any other file I have seen Bruce keep. Normally I wouldn't   
try to pry into his files but I had a really bad feeling about this one.   
Thirty minutes later I had it, by a stroke of luck it opened. It was a   
collection of pictures. 

I cant describe the horror and anger that welled up in me. Before me I   
saw the love of my life, frame by frame, shot and in pain, being stripped and   
raped by the Joker. I cried. I don't know for how long. But when I pulled   
myself together, I knew what had to be done. 


	2. Truth & Lies 2

Title: Truth & Lies 

Author: Logan Roberts 

Disclaimer: The characters of Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, Roy   
Harper, Bruce Wayne, The Joker, and Harley Quinn belong to DC. 

Rating: PG-13 

Story Synopsis: I understand that there are currently two schools of thought   
regarding what the Joker did after he shot Barbara. In this story it is   
assumed that in addition to the pictures she was raped. This is about what   
happens after Dick learns the whole truth 

Feedback: This is my first Fic so be gentle. Public feedback is welcome.   
Please send critical feedback to my e-mail. 

Thanks: To Charlene for letting me bounce some ideas off of her and editing and   
keeping me correct with all facts. 

Truth & Lies (2/3) 

I reentered the cave after picking up some items from my room. All of   
the sudden it felt so alien, like I was seeing it in a new light. Everything   
was tainted. I went and suited back up, placing some extra equipment into my   
right boot. The holster didn't feel right. Every time I have thought about   
firing my weapon, it has been a moral dilemma. It goes against everything I   
have been taught. But knowing what I know now, how can I rely on what HE   
taught me. He kept this from me. They all did. 

The bike ride back into the city took forever. Everywhere I looked, I   
saw her pain, and his smile. I had once thought that the Bat was obsessed with   
him, now I understand. There is no humanity left in the Joker, no morality. I   
knew this before, but I didn't realize how deep it went. He isn't human. He's   
an animal, a savage killer with no sense of right or wrong. He did this on a   
whim. He destroys so many lives on whims, and none of us have ever been able   
to stop him. Which is worse, allowing him to live and continue to hurt others,   
or doing this? 

I hit the city fast and hard. There wasn't much information. Quinn   
had been out for a while but hadn't been heard from since she escaped. It was   
so frustrating, no matter what I did or how hard I tried there were no leads.   
I began patrolling their old haunts and still nothing. It hit about five in   
the morning and I knew I needed to get back before daybreak and get some   
sleep. I decided to try one more bar hidden in the back streets of Gotham. 

Paydirt. After ruffing up a few patrons and breaking a few arms, legs   
and noses, someone squealed. Word had it that Quinn had been looking for some   
new flunkies from outside town in an attempt to stay hidden. I got her   
location and left. It wasn't very far from the bar so I decided to handle this   
now. I was jumping rooftop to rooftop, no lines. It felt like I was flying.   
I used to love doing this. After Bruce and I would fight it always cleared my   
head. It didn't work this time. 

I made it to there and just perched for a minute. It was an abandoned   
office building. There were no outside guards, probably all asleep by now. I   
pulled my 9 mm from my holster. It felt so heavy in my hand. His words came   
to me, "never take a life." He always said that it was the only thing that   
kept us from becoming what we fight. But sometimes we must become our enemy to   
defeat it. I pulled the slide back and chambered a round and replaced the   
gun. It was time. 

There were two guards on the inside. One was asleep, the other was   
reading a comic. Taking turns I guess. I slipped in with no problem. I came   
up on the conscious one first and pulled a escrima stick. Knocked him out   
clean and tied him up. I then tied and gagged the other one without waking   
him. I could faintly hear the hyenas in the basement. I walked over to the   
door and also began hearing Quinn's voice singing a lullaby to them. I pulled   
a gas pellet out and threw it down the stairs. Thirty seconds later there was   
no more noise. I then turned to the office door and opened it, there he was. 

I have to say that I think this was a first. The Joker was sleeping,   
not knocked out from gas or force, but asleep. I walked over to him and pulled   
my 9mm. It was time to end it. End all of the suffering and misery. I looked   
at that grin, raised the gun, and pulled back the hammer. It was time to end   
it for good. 


	3. Truth & Lies 3

Title: Truth & Lies 

Author: Logan Roberts 

Disclaimer: The characters of Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, Roy   
Harper, Bruce Wayne, The Joker, and Harley Quinn belong to DC. 

Rating: PG-13 

Story Synopsis: I understand that there are currently two schools of thought   
regarding what the Joker did after he shot Barbara. In this story it is   
assumed that in addition to the pictures she was raped. This is about what   
happens after Dick learns the whole truth 

Feedback: Public feedback is welcome. Please send critical feedback to my e-   
mail. 

Thanks: To Charlene for letting me bounce some ideas off of her and editing and   
keeping me correct with all facts. 

Truth & Lies: Part 3 

"I couldn't do it. Why couldn't I do it? He had shot and raped   
Barbara. He killed Jason and Sarah. He ruined so many lives but I couldn't   
end his. I was so close. Nothing could stop me. Nothing but his voice in my   
head, my conscience. For the second time last night I cried. I pulled a small   
gas pellet out of my boot and broke it under his nose. As I watched him fall   
deeper into the induced sleep, I put out the call to the commissioners office   
letting them know where to pick him up. I tied and gaged him then turned   
away. I left through the nearest window. It was facing east and the sun was   
just beginning to rise. I could feel him there behind me. He put a gloved   
hand on my shoulder and started to say he was sorry. I didn't let him, I   
turned and hit him square in the face and then dove off of the building. Then   
I came straight here." 

Dick opened his eyes and looked at Roy. He was in shock, but Dick   
wasn't sure at what. 

Roy looked at Dick and with a genuineness that Dick was not used to he   
said, "I'm sorry, I had no idea what had happened." 

"I know," Dick said, "that is why I came to you. I couldn't talk to   
any of them, I don't know if I can trust them anymore or not." 

"Wanna get drunk?" Roy asked. There was the Roy that Dick knew. Dick   
smiled, for the first time since he saw the pictures. 

"Not at eight in the morning." 

Roy sat back in his chair realizing he had been sitting on the edge for   
most of the story. "So what are you going to do now?" 

"I don't know," Dick said. 

"Well, you did hit him. I don't think he is going to take that   
lightly." 

"That is not the real problem," Dick sighed, "how do I look them in the   
eye knowing what I was going to do?" 

"Like a man and do something the Bat had never done, admit you make   
mistakes." Dick hugged his friend and left to face his judgement. 

- - - - - - - - 

Alfred greeted Dick at the door with a hug. "He is down in the cave   
Master Dick," the older man said. Dick nodded and proceeded down. 

Bruce was sitting at the computer, the pictures were still up. He   
heard his son enter, but he couldn't face him. He knew the pain Dick was   
suffering and he didn't know what to do about it. 

"How did you know?" Dick asked. 

Bruce turned around in his chair and answered, "I had an alarm   
programed into that file, if anyone accessed it without the correct password it   
alerted me. Clark flew me in." 

"How long were you there?" 

"I trailed you from the bar." 

"You saw what I was going to do?" 

"Yes." 

"Then I guess you want this." Dick pulled his mask out of his pocket   
and threw it at the computer. 

Bruce caught it in midair. He held it and began to trace the lines   
with his finger. "I also saw what you did do. You had the opportunity to have   
revenge, to settle the score with the person who crippled and tormented her and   
you chose not to." 

"But I was going to. I broke the code. I was going to take a life in   
cold blood." Dick's Shoulders dropped. He could handle disappointment from   
Bruce in everything but this. 

Bruce stood up and walked over to his son and gave him the mask. Dick   
thought he saw tears coming from his father's eyes, one of which was bruised.   
Bruce hugged him, "But you didn't. In the end you made the right choice. You   
made me proud." 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dick asked with tears welling up in his eyes. 

Her voice startled him. "Because I told him not to." 

Dick slowly turned around. There she was, he hadn't talked to her   
since he found out. She was crying as well. Bruce turned off the computer   
monitors and slowly left the cave. 

"Why? Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. 

"Why should I have told you Dick? When it happened, you weren't exactly   
here. You were in New York living with your super model. You had done   
everything you could to distance yourself from all of us. Why should I have   
told you?" 

"That's not fair Babs! You know what you meant to me. What you've   
always meant to me. You're the one who stopped US. You dumped me. Bruce fired   
me. I left. But I would always come back to you and you knew it." 

"Whatever." 

"But that's not what hurts me. Why didn't you tell me later? After   
we ... " 

"Did it matter? Did it really matter? Would you have considered me   
damaged goods? It's bad enough having you see me in this chair. I didn't want   
you to think of him ... touching me ... when you look at me. When you touch me.   
Can't you understand that? Can't you understand why I never wanted you to   
know?" 

Dick dropped to his knees. She rolled over to him and took his face in   
her hands. The anger in his blue eyes had been replaced with guilt. He tried   
to look away, but she forced him to stare into her emerald eyes. 

"This happened to me. It was my choice," she said. 

"I am so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine how this is for you." 

"No, you can't. Maybe I should have told you. I wish you would have   
found out in another way. But I can't change that now." 

"So what am I to do now. Forget it ever happened, ignore what I know." 

"That's up to you." 

"I still love you, no matter what has happened. And I can understand   
why. But I can't forget. But I can let go. I did when I was standing over   
him. I could have ended it. But I knew that would only make things worse for   
you." Dick reached up and wiped away a tear from her face. "I will always   
love you." 


End file.
